The Indianapolis 500 (Indy 500) is one of the largest sporting events of the year. It's a 500 mile race that is held inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a little town called Speedway, Indiana. Speedway is home to 12,000 people and is located seven miles west of downtown Indianapolis. Every Memorial Day Weekend, the town's population skyrockets to over 400,000 as race fans from all over the world gather to watch 33 of the world's fast race car drivers compete in "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing".

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the brainchild of local Indianapolis entrepreneur, Carl Graham Fisher. Within two years of it's opening in 1909, the speedway was drawing over 60,000 fans to each race. It was such a successful venture that Fisher wanted to create the greatest automobile race in the world, and ran the very first Indianapolis 500 over Memorial Day Weekend in 1911. It was an instant hit and an American Tradition was born. 2014 marks the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500. With the exception of World War I (1917 and 1918) and World War II (1942 - 1945), the Indy 500 has been held every Memorial Day Weekend since it's opening.